Lessons from running a bilingual school in Vietnam

I spent four years as founding head of a bilingual K-12 school in Vietnam, having arrived in 2012 to help establish a bridging programme at British University Vietnam. Bilingual schools were rare then. They are now one of the most important parts of the country's private education sector. These are the lessons that stayed with me.

Two curricula, one timetable. The central challenge is making two curricula work as one experience for the student. The Vietnamese national curriculum is rigorous and grounded in tradition. The international programme we used, Cambridge, puts more visible emphasis on inquiry and applied problem-solving. A student might have national curriculum maths in the morning and Cambridge maths in the afternoon, and they are quite different subjects. Assessment is where the difference shows most: the national system gives great weight to final examinations, while Cambridge relies more on ongoing assessment. A bilingual school has to satisfy both without overloading students, and in a way parents can follow. There is no template. It takes iteration, honest review and a willingness to change what isn't working.

Build on what the national curriculum excels at. Vietnamese education is strong in mathematics and science, and international comparisons consistently show it. Our approach was to protect that foundation and add inquiry-based methods from the international side, rather than replace one with the other. The best bilingual schools build on the national system rather than dilute it.

Teachers are the model. A bilingual school depends on teachers from two professional cultures. Vietnamese teachers keep students connected to their language and history, and international teachers bring other perspectives and ways of working. Students watch how the two groups work together. When teachers respect each other's practice, students learn that two cultures can sit comfortably side by side. Teachers fluent in both languages and both curricula are rare, so sustained professional development is part of the cost of running the model well.

Education beyond the classroom. Bilingual education is not only about language. We treated sport, the arts, science and student wellbeing as part of the core programme, with counselling and university guidance built in. Some of the best evidence was informal: students reading in the library at break, or volunteering for academic competitions. Every graduating student went on to university, in Vietnam or overseas.

Why it matters to me as a parent. My own children are growing up between two languages and two cultures, so this work is personal as well as professional. I want them to have strong roots and the range to choose their own path, and that is what a good bilingual school offers.

Running a bilingual school was one of the most demanding and rewarding parts of my career. What I took from it above all is that a school's stability rests on structures rather than personalities: clear curriculum decisions, sound governance and teams who share a purpose. As Vietnam grows, demand for schools that combine local grounding with international pathways will keep growing, and the schools that do well will be the ones that stay clear about what makes them distinctive.